Bedrock taps Jeff Stockwell to adapt 'Wrinkle'

There is such a thing as a tesseract. Just ask Mrs. Whatsit.

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Jeff Stockwell has been hired to adapt author Madeleine L'Engle's classic time-travel head trip, "A Wrinkle in Time," for Cary Granat and his new Bedrock Studios.

L'Engle's 1962 Newbery Medal-winning sci-fi novel revolves around teenager Meg Murry, her genius brother Charles Wallace and classmate Calvin O'Keefe as they launch an interplanetary mission to rescue the siblings' missing scientist father. They are counseled along the way by the mysterious trio of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which.

The BBC made a film version of the young-adult novel, and Dimension produced a telefilm for ABC in 2004. Disney carried remake rights from that deal and is developing the new feature iteration with Bedrock, which had negotiated rights to the property from the L'Engle estate. Catherine Hand also is producing, and L'Engle's granddaughter, Charlotte Voilkis, is exec producing.

Granat has a relationship with Disney from when his Walden Media produced such films for the studio as the "Chronicles of Narnia" series and "Bridge to Terabithia," co-written by Stockwell. L'Engle wrote a handful of follow-up novels to "Wrinkle," now called the Time Quintet, and Disney's Rich Ross is seeking more franchise material in the mold of the female-driven success of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland."

The UTA-repped Stockwell has made something of a career out of tackling challenging children's literature. He co-wrote the adaptation of Chris Fuhrman's novel "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" for producer Jodie Foster and ThinkFilm as well as the adaptation of Katherine Paterson's "Terabithia," which Disney released in 2007.

Stockwell also has adaptations of the novels "Kiki's Delivery Service" and "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" in development. His original screenplay "Our Wild Life" (formerly titled "Peaceable Kingdom") is set up with Mandalay Pictures at New Line. Walter Salles is set to direct.

Granat recently produced "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which grossed $231 million worldwide in 2008. Bedrock, which plans to develop and produce franchise films for $35 million and less, springs from the partnership between Granat Entertainment and Ed Jones' Reel FX. It is developing the animated feature "Turkeys" and adaptations of the kids books "Dinosaur Bob" and "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH."